Murihiku's environmental volunteers are finally getting their moment in the sun

In Murihiku, New Zealand's deep south, the work of looking after rivers, wetlands and coastlines is done largely by volunteers — and this week the 2026 Environment Southland Community Awards handed the applause back to them. Jenny Campbell received the Te Tohu Kahika o te Taiao Award for years spent championing environmental volunteers across the region, making sure grassroots efforts get the backing they need. The Mid Dome Wilding Trees Charitable Trust took the Councillors' Award for its long campaign against wilding pines — invasive self-seeded trees that swallow farmland and native tussock alike. Awards also went to a community garden at Riversdale, a Thornbury school, farming leaders caring for their waterways, and groups restoring wetlands from Edendale to the Hokonui hills. None of it is glamorous work. All of it is why the south's wild places still look the way they do.

SDG 15 · Life on land — Mechanism: community action